Ask HN: How do I develop terse yet elegant written communication skill

17 points by akarki15 7 years ago | 14 comments

I am amazed at some of the design docs by my co-workers here at Google. The docs have phenomenal word economy AND read beautifully. It is literally a joy to read such docs as one sentence leads me to a question which is answered soon in the next paragraphs. The sentences use the minimum yet precise words to deliver phenomenal information density. What are ways people develop this skill?

FYI English is my second language but I did grow up learning both. I'd say my formal English is on par (if not better) than the native speakers.

kotharia 7 years ago |

What you are describing matches perfectly the book "Writing with Style" by John Trimble

He says:

> Books on writing tend to be windy, boring, and impractical. I intend this one to be different—short, fun, and genuinely useful.

See a review: https://nargaque.com/2010/07/07/writing-with-style-john-r-tr...

If you could read only one book on this topic, this is it.

tmaly 7 years ago |

I would recommend the book The Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto

It covers how to write logically so that a document flows as you have described it.

otras 7 years ago |

I've found that the best way to improve my own writing is by practicing writing, editing, and reviewing. Two books that have helped me improve are Stephen King's On Writing and William Zinsser's On Writing Well.

Working at Google, I like that I get the chance to practice through design docs, although that may be my rose-tinted 6-month-tenure glasses speaking. I also try to write outside of work, though the deliberate practice does take some effort for me.

Have you taken the technical writing class at Google? That may be another good resource, although there's a deep waitlist for the ones I see now.

yesenadam 7 years ago | |

I second Zinsser, great book.

Mainly: write, then edit, re-edit etc. Keep going until nothing can be improved. In Clean Code it says, no-one can write clean code - you write dirty code then clean it. Every first draft of a novel sucks. Writers do 50 drafts and it starts looking OK. Every word carefully weighed dozens of times. No-one can write perfect prose in the first draft. Write a terrible first draft, of a chapter or part, then you have raw material to edit. Don't judge the first draft for quality - it's supposed to be bad.

Also, I've found that you often learn as much about the subject while doing that as you knew before! It's a great way to learn. Questions arise as you're doing it - make a temporary list of them at the end, most will answer themselves or can be answered in minutes or hours. If any are left, leave as Exercises for the reader :-)

p.s. Some people say it's way better doing it on paper. When "cut and paste" was with scissors and glue, you could cut everything up and move the parts around before starting to paste, as many great writers have done - on a computer screen you can only move one section at a time. Cut, paste, cut paste.

akarki15 7 years ago | |

Wow thanks for replying! I haven't taken the class but will definitely look into that.

nf05papsjfVbc 7 years ago |

Read well written books. George Orwell, for example, was quite particular about language. Another factor to consider is that brevity takes time. You have keep editing your work to minimise redundancy. After some practice, you will need fewer iterations and eventually some of it will be natural.

Perhaps you will find encouragement here: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/28/shorter-letter/

jamessantiago 7 years ago |

Look into technical writing resources. One of the best resources I've seen is from proposal writing classes which you should find common with large consultancy organizations. Also, take a look at military writing guides [1]. There's some quick and simple guidance on writing for brevity and clarity in such guides.

[1] http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/p600_67.pdf

andrei_says_ 7 years ago |

I’ll echo a recommendation which I found productive:

Copy a favorite blog post or a few paragraphs from a book chapter by typing them yourself.

It is a very interesting exercise, makes your brain take in the words and digest them in a different way.

In your case retype one of your coworker’s docs.

Some other sources I’d recommend for this: Seth Godin’s blog, Dan Lyon’s Lab Rats book. Efficient, energetic and energizing writing with a high signal to noise ratio.

konradb 7 years ago |

You have to think deeply about the topic - certainty about what you are trying to express prevents equivocation.

The structure for the document comes from knowledge of the intended audience and their purpose combined with knowledge of the topic.

Economy of expression is gained from careful and continuous 'refactoring'; restructuring what you say, optimising for simplicity and leverage of the language.

uptownfunk 7 years ago |

Write early, put it away, come back later, reread it, edit.. rinse and repeat.

Read what you wrote aloud to yourself (go somewhere where people won’t stare at you while you’re doing this)

Listen and try to remember more samples of what you think good writing is, subconsciously your writing will start getting better gradually as you write more.

arjunvpaul 7 years ago |

Your co-workers are keeping a secret. They probably took a lot of time and numerous attempts to prepare a final document with "phenomenal word economy".

Mark Twain (or was it Blaise Pascal?) put it best - “I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

jacob_rezi 7 years ago |

I suggest reading more. I've always found that my writing is at it's best when I'm reading more.

BOOSTERHIDROGEN 7 years ago |

Could you give a snippet of your coworker works ?

akarki15 7 years ago | |

Sorry all that stuff (design docs, prds etc) is confidential. I'll try to find blogs which I can post.